“her beauty is raw and wild and she don’t need to put nothing in her hair, it’s curly and wild just like her;” this song expresses richman’s love for the natural woman who doesn’t need to worry about making up her appearance because she’s so wildly stunning and powerful on her own. richman loves his mother and honors her. the entire album is a kind of tribute to matriarchal kindness, manifest clearly in songs like “as my mother lay lying” and the title track, “because her beauty is raw and wild.”

the album instructs us how to be vividly alive and in love with the light. “we want the moment, we want the wind” richman says in “es como el pan;” just like bread, it’s got to be fresh. Even a day old is getting to be too much. We don’t look back and are open to being our best selves in this moment so we can radiate joy to others, who are an extension of ourselves.

two of our favorite songs off the album are “our drab ways,” where richman reminds us “you are the light of the world, so why is your world so gray?” we have the light of the sun inside us, and it’s sad to cover it up with drab shadows.

and the song “when we refuse to suffer,” is also stellar: “when we refuse to suffer, when we refuse to feel, that’s when the Prozac wins and your body and feeling lose.” with great wisdom, richman understands that we’ve got to allow ourselves to feel pain and sorrow in order to also feel beauty & love. big heart and raw emotion is the best idea, says richman.

heeding richman’s words can put us on a good path to political action via counterculture. we will be lovers full of spit–sweet sap we share with the trees–and “our party will be on the beach tonight.”

if you get this album on vinyl, it comes with a bonus 45 containing an alternative take of “when we refuse to suffer,” and the song “you can have a cell phone that’s ok but not me.”